


Vigilante

by adevotedreader



Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canonical Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-15
Updated: 2012-07-15
Packaged: 2017-11-09 23:58:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/459949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adevotedreader/pseuds/adevotedreader
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vigilante: a self-appointed doer of justice</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vigilante

It was the Body.

One moment it was alive and the next it wasn’t. From Uncle Ben to the body. A guardian into a corpse. Even as he pressed against the wound and called for help, he knew that it was too late. The bleeding had slowed and the heart had stopped beating. A part of him wanted to hold on to the belief that something could help - someone would swoop in and save the day – but his brain knew better. It was already too late.

When they pulled him away to begin asking him questions, he did not protest. He did not even hear what they were saying. Instead, he glanced at his hands. They were dirty. The blood had begun to dry on his hands, in some spots cracking and pulling and in others it was still tacky. If he thought about it, he could still feel the warmth and slow pulse beneath his fingers.

  


* * *

Later, when he was staring at the sketch of the murderer he remembered snatching the bottle of chocolate milk out of the air and feeling vindicated. $2.07 and the guy couldn’t cut him a break for a damn penny. He had _deserved_ this break. He _deserved_ a break. The same way he deserved to feel this guilt and this pain. Uncle Ben wouldn’t have died if he hadn’t forgotten Aunt May. If he had answered his phone. If he hadn’t run out of the house like a child throwing a tantrum.

But he would not be the only one who was punished.

  


* * *

He had saved the city. City workers had aided him. The love of his life had risked her life. The Captain had lost his. And for what? For a kid who snuck into a building and got bit by a spider. For someone who didn’t deserve to be saved. It was not something that he wanted to think about. For a moment, he had wanted to keep on falling off the tower. What waited for him if he lived? An Aunt he was doomed to disappoint. A woman he had promised not to love. A city that he could not save forever. There was so much pain and so much suffering, and it would never end. Something always came up that would dash hopes and dreams. A disease; an attack; a new social injustice. What was the point in the long run? Why save the day if that was all it would last?

  


* * *

It took another several months, but he caught up with the man who had shot Uncle Ben.

And as he watched the man struggle to breathe past the webbing covering his nose and mouth, he couldn’t help but smile. This was something that would help the world. Rotting in a cell for a year or so wouldn’t do this man any good. He was a murderer and a thief. The money spent going to his upkeep would be a waste. There were other things that it could go to.

He could do this. One man at a time, he would bring the world to justice. Some other kid would not have to lose their Uncle Ben.

No. He would be there to protect them. 

**Author's Note:**

> When Uncle Ben died, I immediately thought, "What if Spiderman was different? A bit darker, and not quite so white hat." A vigilante isn't someone who follows societies rules. Instead they work outside of the system because they feel that the system doesn't work.


End file.
